Assessment Live!: 10 Real-Time Ways for Kids to Show What They Know--and Meet the Standards »

As an English teacher at Victor J. Andrew High School in Tinley Park, Illinois, Nancy Steineke has witnessed firsthand the potential of collaborative, performance-based learning in extending and refining student knowledge. In addition to informing Assessment Alive! this experience has likewise influenced her other Heinemann books Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles with Harvey "Smokey" Daniels (2004), Content Area Writing: Every Teacher's Guide with Harvey "Smokey" Daniels and Steve Zemelman (2007), and Reading and Writing Together: Collaborative Literacy In Action (2002). A 25-year veteran of the teaching profession, Nancy Steineke has taught 9-12 English at Victor J. Andrew High School in Tinley Park, Illinois, since 1984. During the summer, she works with Dr. Harvey Daniels at the Walloon Institute, offering seminars for teachers, administrators, parent leaders, and their families.

Acclaimed author and educator Nancy Steineke offers the definitive how-to handbook for implementing highly structured and productive assessment activities. Building on her 32 years of classroom experience, Nancy shows teachers how to balance their approach to assessment and easily incorporate performance projects into their curriculum. After chronicling the research and rationale behind live assessments, Nancy describes strategies that teachers can use to foster a supportive classroom culture where assessment activities and presentation skills flourish. The chapters that follow outline ten specific live assessments that can be used to personalize learning and help your students show what they know. Each chapter presents:

• the rationale for the activity
• lists of the reading, writing, and speaking/listening standards skills students will apply
• step-by-step support including samples of student work, tips for troubleshooting predictable problems, and strategies for adapting and modifying activities
• rubrics, scoring sheets, and other reproducibles for students

Use Assessment Live! and find out what your students really know.

Foreword vii

Acknowledgments xi

Part I Getting Started 1

1 The Lively Art of Assessment 2

2 Getting Kids Ready to Go Live: Strategies for Building Confidence and Performance Skills 19

Part II Structures for Live Assessment 47

3 Academic Controversy 48

4 Book Buddy PowerPoint 68

5 Found Poetry 89

6 PostSecret Project 105

7 Readers Theatre 116

8 Tableaux 130

9 Talk Show 142

10 Storytelling 158

11 Songs That Make Ideas Stick 176

12 Performing a Scene: The Ultimate Assessment 198

Study Guide 221

Bibliography 238